On April 26, at the TASS press center in Moscow, the organizing committee of the “Big Book” National Literary Award announced the longlist for the eighteenth season. The list of 51 works included the manuscript of the new novel “Which” by Gala Uzryutova, the writer from Ulyanovsk

In the eighteenth season, 322 works of writers from 73 cities of Russia and 17 countries of the world were nominated: Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Great Britain, Germany, Georgia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Canada, Cyprus, Kyrgyzstan, the Netherlands, Norway, the USA, Ukraine, France and Estonia.

The Long List includes 51 works by authors from 16 cities of Russia and four countries of the world: Austria, Belarus, Great Britain and Georgia, including books by Vasily Avchenko, Pavel Basinsky, Evgeny Vodolazkin, Shamil Idiatullin, Evgeny Kremchukov, Evgeny Popov, Andrey Rubanov, Alexey Salnikov, Andrey Tavrov, Victoria Tokareva.

“Which” is a new auto-fiction novel by Gala Uzryutova about a generation that puts off growing up and chooses escapism in the form of an endless travel sabbatical from themselves. The novel, written in the wake of the author’s travels and experiences of tragedy in the family, unfolds in a parallel setting (Russia-Slovenia (and eight other countries)) in a multi-timeline format. It is an exploration of generational fears, feelings, weaknesses and strengths. “Which” spend the nights in hotels, motorhomes and move along the water, instinctively feeling that this is how they can survive, this is how their ancestors survived, but neither movement, nor hotels, nor ecology, nor giving up meat, nor tolerance, nor coffee to go, nor motorhomes can save them.

Over a hundred nominators presented their books and manuscripts, including the country's leading publishing houses, media, writing organizations, literary magazines and agencies, publishing services and writing schools, as well as members of the Literary Academy. Dmitry Danilov, the famous writer, poet, playwright, became the chairman of the jury this year. The Expert Council of the Prize included writers Evgeny Abdullaev, Roman Senchin and Evgenia Dekina, literary critic Valeria Pustovaya, and Alexey Andreev, the deputy editor-in-chief of the magazine “October”.

In June, on the eve of the Red Square Book Festival, the finalists of the “Big Book” of 2023 will be announced at the traditional Literary Dinner. Then the Literary Academy - the jury of the awardБ formed on the principle of broad public representation and consisting of 105 people - will begin its work. The winners will be awarded at a ceremony in Moscow in December.

The "Big Book" National Literary Award was established by the Center for Support of Russian Literature in 2005. The co-founders and trustees of the prize are: the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Institute of Russian Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Pushkin House), the Russian Book Union, the Russian Library Association, All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, TASS, Gazprom-Media Holding, “Komsomolskaya Pravda” Publishing House, “Alfa-Bank”, “LitRes” service of electronic and audio books, “Chitai-Gorod” bookstores, etc. Over the years, the prize winners were Alexander Ilichevsky, Evgeny Vodolazkin, Guzel Yakhina, Roman Senchin, Vladimir Sorokin, Zakhar Prilepin. Three prizes and a special prize “For Contribution to Literature” are awarded annually. The award of the first place is 3 million rubles, the second – 1.5 million rubles, the third – 1 million rubles. In addition to the main awards, special prizes and diplomas may also be awarded. 

INFORMATION ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gala Uzryutova is a prose writer, poet, playwright, screenwriter. Born in 1983, in Ulyanovsk. Graduated from Ulyanovsk State University, Faculty of Culture and Art. Author of the books “Country Sasha” (KompasGid, M., - 2019; in 2022, the film of the same name “Country Sasha”, based on the book, was included in the program of the Berlin Film Festival and was released widely in Russia); “I’m not talking to you, or Zhenya’s Country” (the book is being prepared for publication); All the names are occupied, but one is vacant (Proper Tales Press, Canada, 2021); “The snow that I missed” (Bookscriptor, M., - 2018); “I turned around, and there was a forest” (Russian Gulliver, M., - 2015).